Singapore to Sell Sites for 14,000 Homes in First Half of 2013

Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore is seeking to sell land to
add as many as 14,000 new homes in the first half of 2013 as the
government moves to prevent excessive gains in home prices after
they reached a record this year.

The government will sell 12 private residential sites in
the first half that could yield 6,900 apartments, and may sell a
further 19 sites where developers could build 7,100 units, the
Ministry of National Development said in a statement today.

“There is a currently a large supply in the pipeline to
meet the robust demand for private housing,” the ministry said,
The new sites are added “to provide adequate supply to meet
demand,” it said.

Singapore home prices reached a record high in the third
quarter amid low interest rates, raising concerns of a housing
bubble. The property market may get “bubbly” even with slow
growth and the government won’t allow prices to outstrip gains
in incomes, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said at a
conference in Hong Kong on Oct. 9.

The additional 19 sites will be sold through auctions,
which are triggered by bids that meet the government’s minimum
price for the properties. As of the third quarter, about 93,800
homes are being built over “the next few years” with 40,000
units still unsold, the ministry said.

Singapore is also selling a hotel site at Havelock Road at
the edge of the city’s financial district, the ministry said.
Along with unsold hotel sites in the second half of 2012, the
properties will offer a pipeline of 12,000 rooms, it said.